OP: Jean-Louis: Cooking With the Seasons
Thomasson-Grant, 1989. Hardcover. Very Good in Very Good jacket. First printing.
French born chef Jean-Louis Palladin (1946–2001) was a bolt of lightning on the American food scene—a chef who understood his adopted country, cooked for its people, and won unqualified acclaim.
Beyond doubt, his imagination was lasting, and the generation of chefs who knew or worked with him has continued to prove its strength. Many fine cooks, such as Eric Ripert and Daniel Boulud, spent time in Palladin’s kitchen and readily attribute their own growth to his generosity as a teacher.
Opening a high-exposure restaurant in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, DC in 1979, Palladin showcased imaginative work using products from US sources—Maryland crabs, eels from Maine, California oysters, local wild greens and mushrooms.
Ten years later, the distinguished photographer Fred Maroon, a devotee of the restaurant, persuaded the chef to assemble a cookbook featuring his own dramatic photography.
One can hardly characterize the range of seasonal dishes. To name a few: the three-melon consommé with Sauternes, julienned vegetables, and mint; a salad of morels stuffed with Louisiana crawfish; prime rib with bone marrow flan, confit of onions in red wine, and sage potato chips; chestnut souffle with poached pears, apples, and peaches.
There have been many spectacular looking celebrations of chefs’ work since that time, but this remains a model of creative energy.
Our copy is the true first printing published by Thomasson-Grant, the book block Very Good Plus. The jacket and case both show some wear and bumping around the corners. 14.25” x 10.5”.
